Xianyu gazed at Jingliu, silent for a long time.
He was surprised by how perceptive she was.
Jingliu studied him carefully, cautiously.
After staring for a while, she belatedly realized she had asked a pointless question.
How could it not hurt?
How could an old wound, hastily treated with medicine, ever heal completely?
As she thought, Xianyu took her wrist and guided her hand toward his neck.
Just before she touched his skin, Jingliu instinctively pulled her hand back.
Xianyu chuckled softly. "It's fine. It doesn't hurt. I barely feel anything..."
Jingliu's expression chilled. She cupped Xianyu's face again and began kneading his cheeks.
Xianyu froze for a moment.
When he was on the verge of death, he hadn't minded telling others the truth.
So, in Scalegorge Waterscape, he had expressed how he felt and talked Dan Feng down.
But with Jingliu... that was another matter.
Xianyu opened his mouth, then had no choice but to amend his answer:
"All right, a little."
Unmoved, Jingliu kept her cool expression and continued kneading his face.
Without a change in expression, Xianyu said:
"Well, more than a little."
"Actually, I regret doing it this way a bit..."
Jingliu's hands stopped.
She realized that if they had met earlier...
If the Xianyu she had met had been serving as the Xianzhou Marshal.
She would still have been drawn to him.
But the Marshal would never have lingered on her.
Fortunately, they had met at the right time and formed the most intimate bond in the world.
Partners could embrace, kiss, and bare their hearts to each other.
Yet Xianyu had spent far too long in the Marshal's position.
He needed neither pity nor sympathy. To him, those were forms of condescension.
Xianyu had almost no emotions that belonged to him alone.
As a